Author Rachel Hall Visits Campus for Distinguished Writers Series

Author Rachel Hall visited Widener on April 9 and 10 as a part of the English and Creative Writing Department’s Distinguished Writers Series.

In September 2016, Hall published her debut collection of linked stories titled “Heirloom.” Published with BkMk Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, “Heirlooms” chronicles four generations of a Jewish family before, during, and long after the holocaust across France, Israel, and the United States. Hall weaves intricate stories and perspectives, inspired by her own family history, to explore assumptions about love, duty, memory, and truth.

On campus, Hall met with Widener’s international undergraduate literary magazine, The Blue Route, for a feature interview as well as several students for one-on-one tutorials. She also visited various creative writing courses, allowing students to ask questions regarding her stories and her writing process.

Miranda Miller, a junior English major and creative writing minor, found Hall’s visit to be insightful, especially as someone with future aspirations for publication.

“It’s always great to have a visiting writer on campus,” Miller said. “I hope to publish my own book one day and getting the opportunity to talk to someone with the same background who has accomplished this is inspiring. Rachel Hall showed me all that I can accomplish with my degree.”

Hall concluded her visit with a public reading during which she debuted a new story she had been working on inspired by a group of young boys one of her friends witnessed walking to deal with their insomnia. From there, Hall crafted a progressive narrative detailing the pressures placed on high school students socially, academically, and as the future looms in the distance.

“I think it’s incredible where writers get their inspiration. It can come from the most obscure and random places,” said Sarah DeKok, junior English and creative writing double major.

DeKok found Hall’s visit to be positive and eye opening. She had the opportunity to meet with Hall for a tutorial during which they discovered a preoccupation with strong female characters who don’t conform to society in DeKok’s writing. After the reading, Hall signed DeKok’s copy of “Heirlooms.”

“She wrote: ‘Good luck with your writing about strong women. We need more of them in life and literature!’” DeKok said. “This gives me such joy and a drive to write better. I hope someday I can sign her copy of my book!”

Hall, a professor of English at the State University of New York-Geneseo, holds two Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in teaching as well as for her creative work. Her essays and stories have been published in such places as Gettysburg Review, Lilith, Water~Stone, and Bellingham Review among others.